Catherine Shultis, a National Merit Scholar with a perfect SAT score, is a natural for the hallowed halls of academia: Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown. But last month, she began her freshman year at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.

Why Steubenville instead of Cambridge, Mass., or New York? The East Coast elite universities "lack a grounding in the Christian faith, and they're turning away from core principles and becoming more and more liberal," she says.

In these politically polarized times, a rising number of top conservative students are politicizing their school choices. Instead of going to a Princeton or Stanford, they're opting for less costly home-state universities or smaller schools that see themselves as standardbearers of Christian values and laissez-faire governance. Such choices are perhaps a boon to those who intend to pursue careers in politics, since conservative...

That era also saw the rise of millenarian beliefs, as w/ Mormonism and the Plymouth Brethren. But it still doesn't answer the historical question, "why?"

Found this nugget:"H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, of the Nixon era helped sponsor a Congressional bill which extended the copyright of 'Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures' by 75 years. The bill became law but has since been declared unconstitutional."

Mike from Mexico, you see what schools Christian Science members want to send their children to. Neil, Charles Finney, so-called revivals, of the 1820's help start various cults such as Mormonism and Adventism. Mark Twain, humorist and an atheist, wrote some very good articles about Mormonism and Christian Science, completely devoid but not of facts.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3187

May get you a copy, and his comments on Mormonism,

http://www.mrm.org/multimedia/text/mark-twain.html, which is an excerpt, orhttp://www.helpingmormons.org/twain.htm

I need to read Alexis de Tocqueville to get a better feel for the era, but from what I've read so far, the loss of vitality (formalism) was a problem among orthodox churches then. Think of the Ephesian or Laodicean churches in Rev.

Remember, the article is from Christian [sic] Science Monitor, so don't expect much discernment here. This paper was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1908, who believed illness is a mental illusion. It is still controlled by her church, but they are smart enough to cultivate a respectable image. Some deceased ancestors of mine were disciples of her cult.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Baker_Eddy

It seems that America was a breeding ground for heresies in the early 19th century.

Okay, let's try another. One Mormon threw out his mothers-in-law and empited the city!

Many years ago some Mormon girls came to my door and I was converted into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The reason I told these two jokes was because at that time the joke was on me. If anybody thinks that the Mormon church is a Christian church, they need to study their bible as the Apostle said Galatians 1:8, But though we, or an angel from heavcen preach another gospel unto you that whcih we have preached unto you, let him be accursed". It can't be much plainer than that as there is no angle moroni in the bible!